(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to STEAM
for STEM, not STEAM. And that was by design. People are just
(adding the arts to the mix). STEAM is another compelling yet
now starting to figure out what STEM is, and when you throw the
surprising idea that proclaims the arts as the necessary
“A” in there, people become confused. We had to start with one
component to bridging the innovation gap.
brand before you could move to another.
In the interview that follows, Leland Melvin candidly shares his
perspective about the STEM to STEAM movement, what the arts
bring to the conversation, and what we can do to gather
momentum through integration of content areas to tear down
silos once and for all.
The reason I am such an advocate for STEAM is because the
creative side is so important for doing any of the things we hope
to accomplish in STEM. For instance, when I think of building a
Can you provide us a little background about yourself and
how you’ve decided to make the move from advocating for
STEM to advocating for STEAM?
I was on the White House task force for education with all the
other federal agencies for STEM. We talked in a lot of those
meetings about the “A” but many people just didn’t want to go
there. After all, it’s hard enough the get people to truly
understand what STEM is. Plus, federal agencies require
justification for agency funding each budget cycle. I think the
biggest problem that we have is that we start off with STEM and
then you go to STEAM and now people want to move to STEM
+M. There’s all of these different iterations and I think the original
thought behind pushing for STEM was to do something that
everyone knows. I mean, look at all the federal dollars - they are
International Space Station | Photo Credit: Leland Melvin, 2009. Used with permission.
Martian base someday, the graphic artists, the designers, the
people that can animate and make these things come to life
before we even build it are the ones who will help the engineers to
craft a whole new vision. I also think of everything in science
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